HELP!!! STRANGE YELLOW PIPE UNDER DAMAGED CONCRETE FLOOR....

[Nicetoseeyoutoseeyounice]

We have just moved house and on removing all kitchen floor coverings found part of the floor uneven and quite damaged/cracked. One part was quite raised and split, obviously the damaged part would need to be removed and filled again with concrete before any tiling can be carried out. This was a quite a sizeable piece of concrete that I prised up with my chisel (about 18 inches x 12) and as I lifted it out I noticed what seems to be yellow pipe running under the concrete floor. Can anyone help with what this pipe may be ie. water/gas and what should I do now or can I just refill with concrete. There dosn't appear to be any damage to the pipe but it does seem to run quite close to the surface of the floor. Could this have forced the floor to crack? Any advice welcome please as I havnt a clue.

 

[big-all]

waters blue gas is yellow but not garanteed

have a look at your meter to see whats connected there!!!

 

[JohnD]

a yellow pipe should be gas, but you never know if someone's stolen a bit of pipe and used it for something else. does it appear to run towards/away from the gas meter? It is hard polythene? Has it got any text imprited on the side?

How deep is it in the floor? how old is your house where you found it?

edited: Bah, too slow

 

[big-all]

he knows the informations right now though john d

 

[Nicetoseeyoutoseeyounice]

Thanks for the quick replys. yes the pipe does go in a direction away from the meter (in living room) and into kitchen so I would presume it is gas, I suppose I must have this checked in case there are any leaks. Providing there are no leaks what do I do now. While I was waiting for replies I checked the forums and now I feel even sicker, I mean will the whole floor need to come up or can it just be patch repaired, it was built in 1960 ish exactly the same as my previous house which again had the exact same concrete flooring with odd bits of cracking, largely due to pulling nails out before carpeting, we were in that house for 15 years and never had any problems at all with floor. Am I reading the wrong things here or do I have a serious problem???

 

[gcol]

Gas pipe is very tough, but if you think you might have damaged it, get a plumber in to do a pressure test at the meter. If ok, I'd just fill over the hole - it's not gonna go anywhere. Just don't be drilling any holes for door stops.

 

[JohnD]

aren't there any gas regs for protecting pipes, like there are for electric cables

 

[Nicetoseeyoutoseeyounice]

Thanks again for your replys. To JohnD, I dont have a clue what gas regs there are but I would imagine there are some, may just call gas out to check if any leaks although I doubt it as there is no smell and we personnally havnt damaged the pipe but whether it has been damaged by previous owner in the past I dont know, but its best to check.
To gcol. We will get it checked and you think the same as me just fill over it. But what is worrying is that we have noticed that the line of cracking which runs across kitchen is in line with this pipe, why would this happen? Its definately more raised than the rest of the floor and looks like a patch repair job has previously been done, also this DPM thing, I mean is this below the concrete? If so then we definately havnt damaged that, but the black stuff on top of the concrete which just looks like a very thin coat of black gloss is obviously damaged in quite a lot of places ie: through lifting of carpets and old tiles etc. Is this serious or can we still just get pipe checked fill in any damaged concrete and then let tiler level and tile floor. Once again any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

How deep is it in the floor? how old is your house where you found it?

 

[danlightbulb]

I may be mistaken but isn't yellow plastic gas pipe a newer invention than the 60's?

If this is the case then its probably been installed into your concrete floor at a later date and this would explain the damage / cracking to the floor.

A good way to check for leaks is to turn all gas appliances off (incl any boiler pilot lights) and record the meter reading to all available decimal places. Then leave a couple of days and record again. It hopefully will be exactly the same.

 

[JohnD]

yip

not to mention Synthaprufe on top of old damp solid floor.

 

[gcol]

aren't there any gas regs for protecting pipes, like there are for electric cables

I'm not sure John. What I can tell you is that I was digging out a rootball at the front of my house last summer and said to the missus (who was watching) "can you smell gas?" I'd gone straight through the lead gas pipe . Transco came out and replaced it with a yellow plastic one but didn't put it any deeper. The pipe was about 3-4" deep.

 

[Nicetoseeyoutoseeyounice]

Have now got round to sorting the floor out and because the huge crack right across the kitchen floor where the yellow pipe runs am removing all loose concrete ready to be repaired by tiler. BUT have noticed the yellow casing on pipe is split in many places and the piping underneath has gone that greeney colour. What do I do now and is this serious.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!

 

[ModernMaterials]

Firstly, and most importantly, if you have any concerns about your domestic gas supply, you must get in touch with gas 'National Grid' aka Transco, who will check your domestic supply for leaks and condemn any faulty pipework and/or appliances.

Yellow gas pipe will generally not appear on the domestic side of your meter so checking for leaks using your meter will not work anyway.

The last statement you made (about yellow casing as opposed to actual pipe) seems to suggest a copper gas (or water) pipe encased in some sort of sheath, so if the sheath is damaged it doesnt mean that the pipe is.

I will say again, if you are concerned about gas pipework, phone up gas national grid and say you can smell gas. They will send someone round free of charge who will condemn any faulty pipework or appliances in order that you can have the faults rectified by a corgi registered gas fitter.

 

[Nicetoseeyoutoseeyounice]

I do appreciate your reply, honestly, but we have already had a gas test by British Gas and there are no leaks, that was when we noticed the crack. Since then I have removed all loose concrete and this when I have noticed that the yellow sheath has split in lots of places. My tiler who will be tiling the kitchen floor has said he will fill in and then level the floor ready for tiling but is this ok. He did say he would try and remove concrete from underneath pipework also in order to cover any spliting in the sheath. Will this alright, I mean if if every little bit isnt covered where the sheath has split and the concrete gets to the copper pipe, then can this corrode the pipe.

Again all reply welcome as he will starting this job soon. Thanks.